Florida Prepares for Race Riots After Zimmerman Trial

Congratulations media, you've successfully turned a non-racial case into a full blown potential race riot.

On Monday, the Broward County Sheriff’s Office released a video calling on the public not to riot in the wake of the George Zimmerman verdict, expected this week or next in Florida. The Sheriff’s Office released a statement explaining that it was “working closely with the Sanford Police Department and other local law enforcement agencies” to coordinate “a response plan in anticipation of the verdict.”

The video, titled “Raise Your Voice, Not Your Hands,” focuses on attempting to channel reaction into non-violent response. It depicts two youngsters, one black teenage boy, one Hispanic teenage girl. “Raise your voice!” says the girl. “And not your hands!” says the boy. “We need to stand together as one, no cuffs, no guns,” says the girl. “Let’s give violence a rest, because we can easily end up arrested,” says the boy. “I know your patience will be tested,” says the girl, and then both conclude, “but law enforcement has your back!”

Here at Townhall we haven't covered the Zimmerman trial much because we aren't Court TV and quite frankly, none of us know what happened the night Trayvon Martin was shot. We can however judge the reactions of public officials and the media to this case, as I did over a year ago.

Although we don’t have all of the facts surrounding the circumstances of what happened that day, some things are certain. The way that the media, President Obama, race-baiter Al Sharpton, celebrities, the Congressional Black Caucus and other politicians have responded to the situation is embarrassing, to say the least.

Let’s start with the media. For weeks, we’ve been hearing about the case of the unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin being “gunned” down in a Florida neighborhood by an overzealous neighborhood watch captain named George Zimmerman.

Predictably, the liberal media has completely hijacked the narrative and the facts of the story. First, they used old and misleading photos of both Martin and Zimmerman for weeks.

Then, multiple media outlets called Zimmerman a “white Hispanic,” in order to further push the narrative that this was a crime motivated by racism. Once again, we don’t know if the crime was racially motivated or not, but calling Zimmerman a “white Hispanic” only encourages racial tension, which is exactly what liberal media feeds off of. They just had to get the "white" part in there.

Also, MSNBC, home of Al Sharpton, deliberately edited the phone audio between Zimmerman and the 911 dispatcher to make Zimmerman look like a racist.

The New Black Panther Party, notorious for violent and illegal behavior, issued a $10,000 bounty for Zimmerman’s "capture." Luckily, Rep. Allen West, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, condemned the move and called on the Justice Department to investigate their calls. He was the only member to do so.

Then, after the New Black Panthers issued their reward, director Spike Lee, a well known celebrity with 248,165 Twitter followers, blindly re-tweeted (or, published via Twitter) a wrong address for "George Zimmerman." The address Lee sent out was actually the address of an elderly couple, who have since had to flee their home out of fear for their personal safety. Lee refuses to apologize. UPDATE: Lee finally apologized late on Wednesday night.

Moving onto the behavior of politicians. Trayvon Martin was wearing a hooded sweatshirt, also known as a “hoodie” when he was shot, and many have claimed the hoodie was used to racially profile Martin. U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus out of Chicago, made that statement on the House Floor wearing a hoodie.